The
Wizard of Oz, Ozziewold, Oznot, Water Baby, The Reds, Not Not, Ozzie, Hooked
tail, The Dolphin, Spesiale Hond, Geel-oog or just plain Oz, where some of the
many names that he carried with him when he lived at Rookwood.
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Oz the little brown bear |
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9 years ago in January, Oz became a new member
in the Border Collie family at Rookwood.
Totally unaware that we were about to acquire a new Border Collie, I
returned home from a visit to the Cape to meet this little brown bear, called
Oz. Jaco de Beer, who was then a manager
for a neighbouring farm brought Oz. His
birthplace was Adendorp near Graaff Reinet.
So Oz began his life at Rookwood.
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Little Oz |
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Oz at Duncraggen |
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Oz the traveller!!!! |
As he was
a puppy and we were kraaling our ewes and lambs every night, Oz started his
early days by riding in a bakkie………..this explains why whenever he heard the
sound of vehicle keys, he was always ready to join you. His favourite spot in the vehicle, became the
foot well of the passenger side. He was
a very good traveller, never got car sick and preferred inside a vehicle to on
the back of the bakkie at all times.
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from little Oz loved to walk |
Oz also
thoroughly enjoyed water and from little this played a very big role in his
life. I spent many happy hours and
kilometres walking the Tuli river with Oz from when he was a puppy.
This love for water even brought him some
fame with his picture featuring as the cover page of the Landbouweekblad which
was reprinted in the 100 year edition again last year. He was named Water Baby (one of the many
nicknames he carried) by Leon at the local agricultural co op. Whenever he went to town with you, his first
port of call at the co op was to look for Leon behind the counter and he would
be overjoyed to see Leon once he had found him, despite everybody else being
rather wary of him.
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Oz the 'famous' Water Baby! |
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chasing the water at the reservoir |
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cooling off in a water trough |
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catching bubbles in the Tuli River |
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trying to prevent the water from running away in the river |
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as a young dog looking at the snow outside |
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waiting for the next snow ball to be thrown |
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the fish are tickling my toes!!! |
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Oz the wolf in the snow |
There was
another side of Oz too, he was very protective of me and his home. However, he would never stray far from you
when growling or barking. Most people
were very wary of his yellow eyes (Geel-oog) as they stood out against his
liver-coloured coat. Even when walking
in the veldt and he would see some animal like a baboon or buck, his immediate
response was this deep dark growl from deep down in his throat to warn you of
this potential ‘danger’. He developed
the reputation of all strangers to be wary of the ‘red’ dog although once he
got to know who you were he would be super enthusiastic and wriggle his whole
body (like a dolphin) and smile when he greeted you. Gideon, Wayne and Kevin can testify to this.
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Oz looking out for dangerous animals! |
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'Family portrait' with 'couisins'! |
All the
other dogs in the pack looked up to him…….he was obviously seen as the ‘leader’
of the collie pack at Rookwood.
He was
not particularly taken in by Bruce and then later Jack became his focus of
attention, although he physically never fought with any of them.
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the 'cousins' with Oz |
He would be told that the ‘cousins’ were
spending the weekend when Kevin would bring his group of 3 Border Collies and
he was never really fond of the ‘cousins’ as they he felt they were always hounding him (excuse the pun!)
Strangely though whenever a ball or stick
were thrown for him to fetch/catch, if any of the other dogs challenged him, he
would immediately drop it and leave it for the other dogs to take.
Flynn (a much later addition to the collie
family) was the one dog he could play with and they bonded quite well.
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Oz and Flynn |
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Oz with a flock of sheep |
Oz did
not mind working sheep/cattle or goats but did like to collect the WHOLE camp
instead of focusing on the animals closer by.
He was however, excellent with ewes and lambs and would patiently drive
a ewe with a lamb very slowly with the typical collie stance of dropped
shoulders and step by step approach with the ‘yellow eye’ stare at the ewe.
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muddy Oz |
“Digging
for Australia”, well Oz loved to dig holes and whenever he did so, we
encouraged him by asking if he was digging for Australia (he obviously was not
called Oz for nothing!!!). Mud was one of his other favourites and he often
looked like he had been for a mud bath when he had finished.
He would
not take food from any stranger and never grabbed food from your hand. He avoided the Beeno dog biscuit, he just did
not like them although ‘Eat Some Mores’ biscuits were always great! His other favourite was the ‘bacon juice’ that
came from the bacon pan on a Sunday morning which was put onto the dog cubes.
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Oz keeping an eye on the cricket game! |
Oz was
clearly a dominant personality in this house and the void left behind is so so very
prominent with all the other dogs missing him too. Odd little things and there were numerous
that I can recall, were just part of who he was. Stirring the sugar in the coffee cup and
jumping up and down on the spot irritated him, playing with elementary toys
like plastic pipes, tubes or even old ball valve balls, fetching food for
vultures from Anton (he loved Anton too), catching windscreen wipers when he
was inside the vehicle, watching cricket on the TV and of course his favourite
lying upside down fast asleep. He was
just different and special.
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resting position in the shade (and hole) |
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When he
was diagnosed with his cancer, we realized that he had little time left at
Rookwood, as his weight loss was very evident and the cancerous growth very
aggressive. It was extremely sad to see
how quickly his whole body deteriorated and how his muscle strength and
physique disappeared over night.
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Oz the jumper |
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Oz could clear fences easily |
His
ability to clear fences was amazing and he could jump to great heights but in
the end even jumping into a vehicle became very difficult. His barking from inside the vehicle because
he had been ‘locked up’ to prevent him from joining you while working the stock
in his last days on earth, will remain a very strong memory in my mind. It broke your heart to know, he just wanted
to be part of working the stock to the end or for going for long walks as he
used to and he was trying to tell you this.
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the above are all pictures taken of his last swim in the dam |
Post script:
Oz it has been more than a week now that you
have left us. I want to thank you for
bravely hanging in there until Meagan could come and say goodbye to you as
well. I was glad we could take you for
that one last swim in the dam. I will
miss you ………your dog pad next to my bed is empty now and I cannot put my hand
out to comfort you any more, however, I just want to tell you that the rains
finally came and we walked down the river passed your donga where you first
fell in love with water and I knew your soul would be happy once more.
May you fly on the wings of all the vultures
that I have lost and may they carry your spirit with them. Thank you for being such a wonderful
companion...........forever in my heart my boy.
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Rest in Peace my boytjie |